puncture proof, airless tire, .. almost there.

[Ypedal]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1065313751/cme-flatfree-bicycle-wheelsets?ref=small_projects

60psi equivalent, but you have to use their wheelset ie : good luck getting them on your own rims without the machine..

 

[dogman dan]

Bout time they improved those foam cores. I have one that came in on a junk bike. Man, that thing is super heavy. Gotta be a better foam out there.

My thinking is that we need tubeless tires, that have a really gummy inner lining. Something like a warplane gas tank.

 

[iamsofunny]

I'm working on some ideas... and by working I mean thinking
...

idea 1: 2 tubes in the tire. One inflated to 5psi so it doesn't take up space, another on top of it at 60psi. When the one tube gets a thorn or nail, you can pull it out, pump up the other tube and keep riding
idea 2: I-beam shaped urethane bumper screwed to the inside of the rim sticking up about 1.5" with two tubes on either side. No pinch flats. can get home (slowly) if tire goes flat
idea 3: foam ring with a clip that joins it into a circle so you can just wrap it around the rim. Long stem tube goes over top. Can ride home on flat tire.

Sincerely
Iamsofunny's brain

 

[oigoi]

Looks like an improvement on others I've seen. Would be heavier than a pneumatic tyre though.

 

[Hillhater]

But not too handy for anyone wanting to install their own hub motor.
And what do you do if you break a spoke ?
I dont see why they could not make it a retrofit for existing rims.
..major marketing fail !

 

[Ypedal]

I've asked both these questions via that site, waiting for the answers......

 

[MadRhino]

That is the good type of airless tire.
Michelin makes them for cars and motorcycles already, smaller to come soon.
Very expansive, but also very long lasting, and they ride better than Air

 

[cal3thousand]

I'm working on some ideas... and by working I mean thinking
...

idea 1: 2 tubes in the tire. One inflated to 5psi so it doesn't take up space, another on top of it at 60psi. When the one tube gets a thorn or nail, you can pull it out, pump up the other tube and keep riding
idea 2: I-beam shaped urethane bumper screwed to the inside of the rim sticking up about 1.5" with two tubes on either side. No pinch flats. can get home (slowly) if tire goes flat
idea 3: foam ring with a clip that joins it into a circle so you can just wrap it around the rim. Long stem tube goes over top. Can ride home on flat tire.

Sincerely
Iamsofunny's brain

In a tire, the 60psi tire will just exert pressure on the 5psi tire until it is at an equilibrium close to 60psi.

But the idea of containing the air within 2 sections is pretty good if the auxiliary section is strong enough to take up the rest of the space. Either way, you need a pump.

It's not hard to carry a patch kit. Don't even have to take the tire off. Then I also have these Park Tire patches if the tire itself happens to get slashed. Small insurance that will help me get home in a pinch.

http://www.parktool.com/product/emergency-tire-boot-tb-2

 

[cal3thousand]

That is the good type of airless tire.
Michelin makes them for cars and motorcycles already, smaller to come soon.
Very expansive, but also very long lasting, and they ride better than Air

Is that related to the tweel?

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3603/

EDIT:

 

[Hillhater]

That is the good type of airless tire.
Michelin makes them for cars and motorcycles already, smaller to come soon.
Very expansive, but also very long lasting, and they ride better than Air

Long lasting ? ... im sure they may be puncture /damage proof but..
Can they make the treads last longer than a conventional tire ?..if so ..how ?
I know of several modern small cars that wear out their (rear) tyres rapidly ( <10k miles ) due to suspension design.
Putting any kind of expensive tires on those is a wast of money

 

[USAEBIKECO]

We tried airless tires with our ebikes and it just didnt work out. Yes you need the machine to properly install the tire. Its seems going over 20 mph somehow messes with the alignment. It's just not ready for prime time use in ebikes.

 

[Vadim]

They keep trying airless tires, but I doubt it'll ever work
In a normal tire the howl thing acts as a shock, the airless ones just don't provide the same ride.

 

[cruiserbikeman]

I wonder how difficult they will be to change. If they're anything like motor scooter tubeless tires ( a pain to get them off the rim), you better have a shop that'll put them on for you. Otherwise, stick with the traditional innertube tire combination.

 

[dogman dan]

How about doing it Travis Pastrana style. Attach a bunch of sneakers to a rim. 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUfEsJJBUyM

Worked good till he does a burnout with it.

 

[amberwolf]

Changing the tires off the "tubes" when the tread wears out is definitely a PITA, but at least you don't have to take the tire off carefully--just cut it off. The hard part is putting the new one on the rim with the "tube" in it.


A friend dropped off a pair of 24" airless "tubes" day before yesterday, apparently a cheap Goodwill find. I will likely run them on those hookworm-like "slicks" I like so much, on the front of the cargo bikes, since not much weight goes up there anyway, and a loaded cargo bike is a huge PITA to change or patch a tube on, and even worse to walk home when you can't change or patch for whatever reason.


CrazyBike2 has had so many rear tube problems (that can't be patched, and can't be stopped by protector strips, kevlar tires, or any kind of Slime or sealant) lately that I am about to give up on tube tires and go with airless ones despite all the problems and things I really dislike about them. At least they don't leave me stranded with a bike that weighs as much as I do, walking it home a few miles in 110F+ heat. (or sitting in the sun roadside unpacking all the cargo and changing or patching the tube).

I am really tempted to just go do it right now....

 

[dogman dan]

Yeah, I was just looking at that 5 pound airless tube in my garage the other day when I was putting a tire on the 5304 I just put on my longtail cargo bike.

But then I remembered WHY I made bouncing betty a full suspension longtail. No pinch flats from carrying a heavy load. No broken spokes. I'll still be vulnerable as hell to broken glass, larger metal spikes and such though. My commute is long, so I always carried pump, patches, and a spare tube. PITA to have to use em though.

I still think the ultimate thing would be tubeless tires, with a tire that had a bubblegum like rubber lining about 1/8 thick. Able to self seal up to a 1/4 inch hole.

Put about the same weight as a tube into the sealer lining. It could even be something paintable onto any tire. Or maybe a strip you stick into there.

HMM. You can buy gooey butylene rubber strips, that are used to seal windows onto mobile homes and RV's. Between the tire and the tube?

 

[Harold in CR]

My rear tire will be a tubeless scooter tire. I have 2 sets of tubeless repair kits on the way.

 

[MikeFairbanks]

We have had puncture-proof wheels for almost two centuries.

 

[parajared]

Guys we already have these; I have one sitting in my garage. It's an all foam tire that you stretch onto your tire with a paddle. It clips into the rim. See:

you buy them at http://www.airfreetires.com

I also have the wal-mart Bell "no-mor flats" foam insert which works fine, but you need the perfect size tire, and to get the thing on is much like wrestling a rubber alligator for flat-proofing goodness. Getting the tire off afterwords is impossible, I use a chop saw with a steel cutting blade.

 

[amberwolf]

As has been stated before, the problems with those "solid tires" that include the "tread" are:

--no proper bead, so they can just roll off the rim under side-loading (this is why they go on so easily--they also come off easily). Could cause spectacular crashes when this happens in front wheels during a hard turn at an intersection with traffic at speed, especially if the tire jams the wheel in the fork.

--usually no proper "carcass", so the "tread" wears down very rapidly into the soft foam core, *or* they are the same foam core all the way out to the tread and they wear VERY rapidly under anything other than child's use or intermittent use.

--not available in many types of tread, so you're stuck with whatever kind they sell, rather than ones actually useful for your type of terrain/roads/etc.



FWIW, it is not impossible to get the foam-tube types off intact, when using regular tires with good beads over them--it's just very difficult. I did this once already with DayGlo Avenger due to a toasted rim, and traded out the MTB tire the wheel came with for a better-suited Kenda Krossroads type with road-slick center and knobby edges. (the Kenda tire is actually one I could no longer use with air-filled tubes, as it has sidewall damage that would herniate with air-filled tubes and rip the tube open on the brake pads, but with airless foam tubes there are no such problems!).

 

[cal3thousand]

That is the good type of airless tire.
Michelin makes them for cars and motorcycles already, smaller to come soon.
Very expansive, but also very long lasting, and they ride better than Air

Long lasting ? ... im sure they may be puncture /damage proof but..
Can they make the treads last longer than a conventional tire ?..if so ..how ?
I know of several modern small cars that wear out their (rear) tyres rapidly ( <10k miles ) due to suspension design.
Putting any kind of expensive tires on those is a wast of money

There's new compounds for these tires. Bridgestone has one that has a thermoplastic core and rubber contact patch that is being tested in smaller and lower velocity applications such as golf carts and wheelchairs.

The thermoplastic cores will be recyclable. They are melted and reformed, leaving much less wasted rubber into tireyards.

I think e-bikes are a wonderful testing ground before these things make it to cars. All of the needs of a bike tire are between their current test applications and cars (the target audience).

I would love being able to romp over thorns and glass like nothing. The only problem they currently have with the tires is keeping the "spokes" free of debris and dirt, which affects longevity and performance.

 

[parajared]

I ride my bell no-mor flats at 50 mph and I off-road downhill them. They seem fine to me. Testing on my solid foam tire will come once I wear one of my tires down to bald.

 

[Gregor]

Here is a good experiment for someone: Take a Bell "no-more-flats" foam insert and cut it in half with a bandsaw so that you have an outer 1/2 and an inner 1/2. At this point, you can toss the inner 1/2 (or keep it for turning inside out ) and then take the outer half, place it in the tire (much more forgiving for tire size this way) and the mount an innertube inside that and mount your tire. You would have about an inch of flat protection and a much better attachment of the tire to the rim as the psi would keep it tight. The bandsaw would give the smoothest cut, but you could do this with a sabre saw if you want a countinous loop of foam protection. If you patent my idea and build this into a tire, I demand a buck for my input!

 

[parajared]

Here is a good experiment for someone: Take a Bell "no-more-flats" foam insert and cut it in half with a bandsaw so that you have an outer 1/2 and an inner 1/2. At this point, you can toss the inner 1/2 (or keep it for turning inside out ) and then take the outer half, place it in the tire (much more forgiving for tire size this way) and the mount an innertube inside that and mount your tire. You would have about an inch of flat protection and a much better attachment of the tire to the rim as the psi would keep it tight. The bandsaw would give the smoothest cut, but you could do this with a sabre saw if you want a countinous loop of foam protection. If you patent my idea and build this into a tire, I demand a buck for my input!

Schwalbe Marathon tires are kind of like that. They have a layer of foam in them.
I have tried something similar. I tried cutting two old bicycle tubes and making a rubber layer between the tube and the road. The flat rubber tubes would work their way along side the inflated tube and cause pinch flats

 

[amberwolf]

If you want ot use an old tube as a "liner" between the active tube and the tire, it works fine if you just remvoe the valve stem from the old one, and slit it along it's inner circumference. Then place it outside the new one partially inflated, and stick that whole thing in the tire, defalte the active tube, and mount it on the rim.

You can use two or three old tubes in layers if you need it really thick, but I've only used two at most so far, with no failures caused by this.